Welcome to Wildwater Canoeing

Wildwater Canoeing is a discipline of canoe racing, also known as Wildwater Racing and Whitewater Racing.

The wildwater time trial is the purest of whitewater racing forms - the athlete, the river, the clock. A racing performance is the result of physical conditioning, skill and harmony with the water - and is the only sport where social paddling is necessary to achieve a peak performance. Beautiful water, scenery and companionship make the Wild Water Racing experience compelling. The competitor is free to take whichever route on the river they desire, a freedom of racing unsurpassed in the whitewater world.

Races are run in three formats:

  • Classic - A single run over a 15 minute (approximately) course.
  • Sprint - The total of two runs  over a 500 metre course.
  • Wavehopper - A format specifically for youngsters, the best of two runs to count.

 There are races all over the country, at standards of difficulty to meet all standards. Racing starts with the Wavehopper series for youngsters, progressing to the Youth Series and national ranking sprint and classic races. Any boat can be used to start, and there is always a fleet of wavehoppers available to try. To find out more about racing in your area, and the next steps to entering your first race see our getting started guide. You will always be guaranteed a warm welcome at wildwater race.

Latest News
 

Whitewater drills

Written by Neil Stamps | 09 December 2011
Posted in Coaches - Coaches Blog

Well, it's been a little time since our last posting. This month I'd like to talk about how we can get the most out of our river time.

Often we are paddling within a group of mixed abilities, sometimes on water that may not be taxing us particularly. We could see this as just an opportunity to get some miles in and just use the river for conditioning work, or we could look at how we could be a little more inventive and work on some skills as well. It is often possible for two different athletes to work on completely different skills on the same piece of water. For the relative novice they may be honing their river reading skills by leading a simple rapid, whilst the more experienced athlete might be working on timing their strokes to every wave.

Read more...

Managing Race Day

Written by Neil Stamps | 18 June 2011
Posted in Coaches - Coaches Blog

Well, we have done as much as we can do now, race day is almost upon us. We have prepared well, been consistent in our training and we have put the skills work in on the whitewater. We now just need to make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity to put a great race performance. As Claudine Le Roux says, "Success is choice not chance" - a great performance is a result of dedication and planning. So lets make sure we plan the critical last bit right up and through our race.

So on that theme I wanted to draw attention to the planning process for race day, and just highlight how much actually goes on - and really how we do not have a great deal of time. By planning well we can keep our inner chimp happy (the one which wants to be irrational and can affect our performances). Robbie Anderson indicated to the squad at a recent traning weekend, your chimp likes structure - not having a race day plan is like poking it with a stick! 

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Next Div A/B Event

28th Jan Dart
29th Jan Dart Loop
4th Feb Soar
5th Feb Taff
19th Feb Exe
25th Feb Grandtully Sprint

Next Youth/Wavehopper

28th Jan Dart
25th Feb Grandtully Sprint
25th Feb Stanley Classic
26th Feb Derwent
11th Mar Irwell
17th Mar Leven (TBC)

Next Regional Event

28th Jan Dart
29th Jan Dart Loop
5th Feb Taff
19th Feb Exe
26th Feb Derwent
11th Mar Irwell